Imported goods are unloaded at Hai Phong Port. The Ministry of Finance will confiscate and sell any unclaimed goods lying at ports and border gates after 90 days. — VNA/VNS Photo Hoang Hung

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — The Ministry of Finance will confiscate and sell any unclaimed goods lying at ports and border gates after 90 days and the proceeds will be included in the state budget.

The new rule has been announced as per a new circular from the ministry on the handling of goods left in the customs offices' monitoring area, which will become effective February 5, reported the Dan tri (People's Intelligence) online newspaper.

The circular also states that the customs offices will directly sell fresh food, flammable goods and products, processed food and medicines to businesses without conducting an auction.

As far as vehicles, equipment and machines are concerned, the offices will transfer these products to the State management agencies for further use.

Meanwhile, the relevant offices will organise auctions for the goods and products that cannot be transferred to the State offices. The proceeds from the auction will be added to the State budget.

The Ministry of Finance has implemented the rule to deal with excess goods traffic at ports and border gates, mainly located in the Hai Phong and Sai Gon seaports.

The increasing presence of unclaimed imported goods that remain at the port beyond the stipulated deadline has driven up costs of storage and preservation of containers at these ports. Additionally, many unclaimed goods either decompose due to expiry or rust and add to environmental pollution, following which the State has to spend extra money to destroy these goods.

The Hai Phong Seaport dealt with 4,000 units of containers filled with unclaimed goods in 2014, while the Sai Gon Seaport took care 3,000 such units. — VNS